Team Grades

[Rjones61]

Okay, so I have gotten to cool down a bit. Let's take some time to evaluate the team's performance. Keep in mind that this is the first game in a year and a half and clean up is absolutely expected.

Offense:

Quarterback Play (A): Barriere played great with what he had. A few mistakes here and there, but that is to be expected in the first game. Throws were accurate and Barriere did a great job extending plays and giving his guys time to get open. Some of his dancing in the backfield lost significant yards, but I don't chalk that up to Barriere mistakes, more like Vandals doing a great job at the line of scrimmage.

Runningbacks (A): These guys hit holes hard, made great cuts and overall were extremely consistent. They didn't mess up their roles, fumble a ball, or make a harmful decision. Saw some great blocks in the backfield as well.

Receivers (F - ): Oh how the mighty have fallen. So many drops at this level are inexcusable. Even for depth players. I understand we were missing some key players due to quarantine, but damn the receiving was poor. You can't set up a viable offense if your guys won't catch balls that go right to their chest. Coaches also need to talk to these guys about getting upfield rather than trying to dance around for a juke.

O-Line (C): Vandals had a stout d-line and our o-line stood up them pretty well. There were a few facepalm plays where the d-line broke through, but the biggest flaw was leaking blitzes through left and right.

Defense

D-line (A): EWU didn't need to rely on a blitz package to create pressure. Our four man rush was constantly in the QBs face and forced him to make many costly errors. Lots of tackles for a loss.

Linebackers (C): Our guys did a good job flying to the runningback, but pass coverage was poor and they had a lot of trouble shucking blockers. Ojoh was surprisingly inefficient in this category and was consistently cut off from the play.

Cornerbacks (F): Idaho's main offensive adjustment was to throw the ball to the flat, watch the cornerback miss and then run for big gains. Idaho's receiver corps was good, but far from the best in this league and our guys need serious work to shut down the flat/sideline.

Safeties (D): I don't know if this is a scheme problem, but our safeties were often in the wrong place at the wrong time. I do credit them for their tackling when guys are back there, but they were bailed out OFTEN by the defensive line's stout play. A more competent quarterback will expose this area of the field.

Special Teams:

Kickoff/Field goals (B): Our guy seems to lack a strong leg, but is accurate. That kickoff out of bounds was a mistake, but not one that is typical.

Punting (Ungraded): I honestly forgot to look at this closely. How did we do?

Coverage (A): Our guys got downfield fast and were aggressive at contact. We will force some big mistakes from other teams this season.

 

[Palm Springs Eag]

Good thread! THANKS FOR STrting. Disappointing loss for sure, but it's a weird year. D Line played well in spite of losing Morre to the portal. I thought Warren looked like he could have a special year. The drops BY WR'S were a surprise! Stell made some plays at the WR position, and Chism got in some action. YOUNG GUYS LOOK LIKW THWY COULD MAKE some Leaps this YEAR. JONES LOOKS LIKE HE IS Totally capable of taking over games. NEEDS TO TaKE THT NEXT STEP. WithH #3 , I HTINK WER ARE WAY TOO Talented on offense to look tHAT STAGNANT. ON TO NAU. GO EAGS!

 

[LDopaPDX]

Okay, so I have gotten to cool down a bit. Let's take some time to evaluate the team's performance. Keep in mind that this is the first game in a year and a half and clean up is absolutely expected.

Offense:

Quarterback Play (A): Barriere played great with what he had. A few mistakes here and there, but that is to be expected in the first game. Throws were accurate and Barriere did a great job extending plays and giving his guys time to get open. Some of his dancing in the backfield lost significant yards, but I don't chalk that up to Barriere mistakes, more like Vandals doing a great job at the line of scrimmage.

Runningbacks (A): These guys hit holes hard, made great cuts and overall were extremely consistent. They didn't mess up their roles, fumble a ball, or make a harmful decision. Saw some great blocks in the backfield as well.

Receivers (F - ): Oh how the mighty have fallen. So many drops at this level are inexcusable. Even for depth players. I understand we were missing some key players due to quarantine, but damn the receiving was poor. You can't set up a viable offense if your guys won't catch balls that go right to their chest. Coaches also need to talk to these guys about getting upfield rather than trying to dance around for a juke.

O-Line (C): Vandals had a stout d-line and our o-line stood up them pretty well. There were a few facepalm plays where the d-line broke through, but the biggest flaw was leaking blitzes through left and right.

Defense

D-line (A): EWU didn't need to rely on a blitz package to create pressure. Our four man rush was constantly in the QBs face and forced him to make many costly errors. Lots of tackles for a loss.

Linebackers (C): Our guys did a good job flying to the runningback, but pass coverage was poor and they had a lot of trouble shucking blockers. Ojoh was surprisingly inefficient in this category and was consistently cut off from the play.

Cornerbacks (F): Idaho's main offensive adjustment was to throw the ball to the flat, watch the cornerback miss and then run for big gains. Idaho's receiver corps was good, but far from the best in this league and our guys need serious work to shut down the flat/sideline.

Safeties (D): I don't know if this is a scheme problem, but our safeties were often in the wrong place at the wrong time. I do credit them for their tackling when guys are back there, but they were bailed out OFTEN by the defensive line's stout play. A more competent quarterback will expose this area of the field.

Special Teams:

Kickoff/Field goals (B): Our guy seems to lack a strong leg, but is accurate. That kickoff out of bounds was a mistake, but not one that is typical.

Punting (Ungraded): I honestly forgot to look at this closely. How did we do?

Coverage (A): Our guys got downfield fast and were aggressive at contact. We will force some big mistakes from other teams this season.

Gotta be honest, while I appreciate the effort and understanding, I don't agree on a lot of these. I haven't been so shocked by an Eastern performance in a long time. That said, the last time I remember feeling like the wheels fell off was against Weber State in 2018, and we bounced back from it.

Here's specifically where I disagree, I thought the whole defense played well. The DBs were the big issue, and it was a function of some guys playing hard. and a couple that just shit the bed. I don't need to name names, we all saw what happened. What surprised me most was the inability to tackle in space, take good pursuit angles, or just otherwise cover guys tightly. Two of their TDs were just complete misses by a DB.

Offensively, I'd give the running back and OL decent grades. I thought Barriere played very poorly. He accumulated yards just fine, but he missed a lot of throws. More importantly, his decision making on when to run and when to throw was awful. A lot of that stems from our offensive philosophy. Go back two years, and we saw Barriere's strength as being execution of zone reads... especially when he chose to take the ball himself. How many zone reads did we run on Saturday? One? Two? Did we use Barriere's mobility at all? The only time he scrambled was when a play broke down. It's like we're trying to make him play with a skill set that he doesn't have, all while ignoring the skills he possesses. We keep using these RPOs when everyone knows we'll be throwing, so they don't even buy into the read. Why not let him run laterally and read the edge? We know he does that well, but it's the second year in a row we rarely do it. And for Gawd's sake, teach him you don't slide two yards short of a first down when you're in a third down situation.

The less said about the receivers, the better. F- is a proper grade. Astonishingly bad performances form guys who were valued as recruits. Worse yet, two of our top guys didn't even make the trip. Being injured after 15 months off is unacceptable.

I was also concerned about the leadership. It felt like there was no sense of urgency, especially from the offense. They just kept sputtering and deferring to chucking the ball downfield instead of grinding out yards. We ran the ball just fine, but almost never did it. And when we do it, we come out of a tight formation instead of the spread. We may as well just have Barriere hold up a sign telling the defense that we're running the ball so they don't have to bother worrying about covering the receivers. We had every opportunity to get that win against a clearly inferior team and pissed down our leg.

 

[Rjones61]

Okay, so I have gotten to cool down a bit. Let's take some time to evaluate the team's performance. Keep in mind that this is the first game in a year and a half and clean up is absolutely expected.

Offense:

Quarterback Play (A): Barriere played great with what he had. A few mistakes here and there, but that is to be expected in the first game. Throws were accurate and Barriere did a great job extending plays and giving his guys time to get open. Some of his dancing in the backfield lost significant yards, but I don't chalk that up to Barriere mistakes, more like Vandals doing a great job at the line of scrimmage.

Runningbacks (A): These guys hit holes hard, made great cuts and overall were extremely consistent. They didn't mess up their roles, fumble a ball, or make a harmful decision. Saw some great blocks in the backfield as well.

Receivers (F - ): Oh how the mighty have fallen. So many drops at this level are inexcusable. Even for depth players. I understand we were missing some key players due to quarantine, but damn the receiving was poor. You can't set up a viable offense if your guys won't catch balls that go right to their chest. Coaches also need to talk to these guys about getting upfield rather than trying to dance around for a juke.

O-Line (C): Vandals had a stout d-line and our o-line stood up them pretty well. There were a few facepalm plays where the d-line broke through, but the biggest flaw was leaking blitzes through left and right.

Defense

D-line (A): EWU didn't need to rely on a blitz package to create pressure. Our four man rush was constantly in the QBs face and forced him to make many costly errors. Lots of tackles for a loss.

Linebackers (C): Our guys did a good job flying to the runningback, but pass coverage was poor and they had a lot of trouble shucking blockers. Ojoh was surprisingly inefficient in this category and was consistently cut off from the play.

Cornerbacks (F): Idaho's main offensive adjustment was to throw the ball to the flat, watch the cornerback miss and then run for big gains. Idaho's receiver corps was good, but far from the best in this league and our guys need serious work to shut down the flat/sideline.

Safeties (D): I don't know if this is a scheme problem, but our safeties were often in the wrong place at the wrong time. I do credit them for their tackling when guys are back there, but they were bailed out OFTEN by the defensive line's stout play. A more competent quarterback will expose this area of the field.

Special Teams:

Kickoff/Field goals (B): Our guy seems to lack a strong leg, but is accurate. That kickoff out of bounds was a mistake, but not one that is typical.

Punting (Ungraded): I honestly forgot to look at this closely. How did we do?

Coverage (A): Our guys got downfield fast and were aggressive at contact. We will force some big mistakes from other teams this season.

Gotta be honest, while I appreciate the effort and understanding, I don't agree on a lot of these. I haven't been so shocked by an Eastern performance in a long time. That said, the last time I remember feeling like the wheels fell off was against Weber State in 2018, and we bounced back from it.

Here's specifically where I disagree, I thought the whole defense played well. The DBs were the big issue, and it was a function of some guys playing hard. and a couple that just shit the bed. I don't need to name names, we all saw what happened. What surprised me most was the inability to tackle in space, take good pursuit angles, or just otherwise cover guys tightly. Two of their TDs were just complete misses by a DB.

Offensively, I'd give the running back and OL decent grades. I thought Barriere played very poorly. He accumulated yards just fine, but he missed a lot of throws. More importantly, his decision making on when to run and when to throw was awful. A lot of that stems from our offensive philosophy. Go back two years, and we saw Barriere's strength as being execution of zone reads... especially when he chose to take the ball himself. How many zone reads did we run on Saturday? One? Two? Did we use Barriere's mobility at all? The only time he scrambled was when a play broke down. It's like we're trying to make him play with a skill set that he doesn't have, all while ignoring the skills he possesses. We keep using these RPOs when everyone knows we'll be throwing, so they don't even buy into the read. Why not let him run laterally and read the edge? We know he does that well, but it's the second year in a row we rarely do it. And for Gawd's sake, teach him you don't slide two yards short of a first down when you're in a third down situation.

The less said about the receivers, the better. F- is a proper grade. Astonishingly bad performances form guys who were valued as recruits. Worse yet, two of our top guys didn't even make the trip. Being injured after 15 months off is unacceptable.

I was also concerned about the leadership. It felt like there was no sense of urgency, especially from the offense. They just kept sputtering and deferring to chucking the ball downfield instead of grinding out yards. We ran the ball just fine, but almost never did it. And when we do it, we come out of a tight formation instead of the spread. We may as well just have Barriere hold up a sign telling the defense that we're running the ball so they don't have to bother worrying about covering the receivers. We had every opportunity to get that win against a clearly inferior team and pissed down our leg.

:lol: Sounds like based on your writing you agree with everything except Qb play.

Some very good takes on leadership.

 

[LDopaPDX]

Yeah, after looking through it all, I mostly agree except on QB... and that comes with a caveat that I think our staff is trying to get Barriere to do things he's not skilled at instead of letting him play to his strengths.

As it relates to leadership, I'd add this. Eastern would historically go 9-1 in games of this type. We'd play half-ass for 3.5 quarters and then turn on the jets and win it late. Now we seem to be finding ways to lose (Jacksonville State last year being a prime example). Maybe having guys like Bo Levi and Vernon just willed us along the way? For whatever, we've struggled in this capacity the last couple of years.

 

[ewueagle2010]

Okay, so I have gotten to cool down a bit. Let's take some time to evaluate the team's performance. Keep in mind that this is the first game in a year and a half and clean up is absolutely expected.

Offense:

Quarterback Play (A): Barriere played great with what he had. A few mistakes here and there, but that is to be expected in the first game. Throws were accurate and Barriere did a great job extending plays and giving his guys time to get open. Some of his dancing in the backfield lost significant yards, but I don't chalk that up to Barriere mistakes, more like Vandals doing a great job at the line of scrimmage.

Runningbacks (A): These guys hit holes hard, made great cuts and overall were extremely consistent. They didn't mess up their roles, fumble a ball, or make a harmful decision. Saw some great blocks in the backfield as well.

Receivers (F - ): Oh how the mighty have fallen. So many drops at this level are inexcusable. Even for depth players. I understand we were missing some key players due to quarantine, but damn the receiving was poor. You can't set up a viable offense if your guys won't catch balls that go right to their chest. Coaches also need to talk to these guys about getting upfield rather than trying to dance around for a juke.

O-Line (C): Vandals had a stout d-line and our o-line stood up them pretty well. There were a few facepalm plays where the d-line broke through, but the biggest flaw was leaking blitzes through left and right.

Defense

D-line (A): EWU didn't need to rely on a blitz package to create pressure. Our four man rush was constantly in the QBs face and forced him to make many costly errors. Lots of tackles for a loss.

Linebackers (C): Our guys did a good job flying to the runningback, but pass coverage was poor and they had a lot of trouble shucking blockers. Ojoh was surprisingly inefficient in this category and was consistently cut off from the play.

Cornerbacks (F): Idaho's main offensive adjustment was to throw the ball to the flat, watch the cornerback miss and then run for big gains. Idaho's receiver corps was good, but far from the best in this league and our guys need serious work to shut down the flat/sideline.

Safeties (D): I don't know if this is a scheme problem, but our safeties were often in the wrong place at the wrong time. I do credit them for their tackling when guys are back there, but they were bailed out OFTEN by the defensive line's stout play. A more competent quarterback will expose this area of the field.

Special Teams:

Kickoff/Field goals (B): Our guy seems to lack a strong leg, but is accurate. That kickoff out of bounds was a mistake, but not one that is typical.

Punting (Ungraded): I honestly forgot to look at this closely. How did we do?

Coverage (A): Our guys got downfield fast and were aggressive at contact. We will force some big mistakes from other teams this season.

Gotta be honest, while I appreciate the effort and understanding, I don't agree on a lot of these. I haven't been so shocked by an Eastern performance in a long time. That said, the last time I remember feeling like the wheels fell off was against Weber State in 2018, and we bounced back from it.

Here's specifically where I disagree, I thought the whole defense played well. The DBs were the big issue, and it was a function of some guys playing hard. and a couple that just shit the bed. I don't need to name names, we all saw what happened. What surprised me most was the inability to tackle in space, take good pursuit angles, or just otherwise cover guys tightly. Two of their TDs were just complete misses by a DB.

Offensively, I'd give the running back and OL decent grades. I thought Barriere played very poorly. He accumulated yards just fine, but he missed a lot of throws. More importantly, his decision making on when to run and when to throw was awful. A lot of that stems from our offensive philosophy. Go back two years, and we saw Barriere's strength as being execution of zone reads... especially when he chose to take the ball himself. How many zone reads did we run on Saturday? One? Two? Did we use Barriere's mobility at all? The only time he scrambled was when a play broke down. It's like we're trying to make him play with a skill set that he doesn't have, all while ignoring the skills he possesses. We keep using these RPOs when everyone knows we'll be throwing, so they don't even buy into the read. Why not let him run laterally and read the edge? We know he does that well, but it's the second year in a row we rarely do it. And for Gawd's sake, teach him you don't slide two yards short of a first down when you're in a third down situation.

The less said about the receivers, the better. F- is a proper grade. Astonishingly bad performances form guys who were valued as recruits. Worse yet, two of our top guys didn't even make the trip. Being injured after 15 months off is unacceptable.

I was also concerned about the leadership. It felt like there was no sense of urgency, especially from the offense. They just kept sputtering and deferring to chucking the ball downfield instead of grinding out yards. We ran the ball just fine, but almost never did it. And when we do it, we come out of a tight formation instead of the spread. We may as well just have Barriere hold up a sign telling the defense that we're running the ball so they don't have to bother worrying about covering the receivers. We had every opportunity to get that win against a clearly inferior team and pissed down our leg.

It feels like you just used my brain to form your thoughts. Well said, Dopa.

Also, when was the last time this team won a meaningful road game? 2018, with Gubrud at QB? In 2018, all the playoff games were at home. In 2019, the only two road wins came at Idaho State and a winless Cal Poly (who almost beat us). Lost both match ups in Moscow, melted down at JSU, Weber, Montana, Sac State.... I hate to say it but there is an ugly trend here.